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Lily H

Lily H was adopted on 5/19/13

Lily H. did go to her new home on 5/11/13. She is on a trial period.

As of 5/4/13 Lily H. is marked adoption pending. We will not be accepting new application for her at this time.

Lily H. was part of 17 shelties that have come from a hoarder in NY. She has been in the rescue for 2 years. The home she came from had all the windows boarded, no running water, no electricity and was kept in horrible conditions. (fortunately, this hoarder has finally been arrested and will no longer be able to have any more dogs).

Lily has come a long way. She is doing really well in her foster home. She would do best in a home that has another dog and the home must have a fenced in yard.

This is a note from her foster mom and dad:

She was trouble and no one really seemed to want her. Lily is a spayed female, somewhere around 4 to 5 years old. She is a 'blonde'; light colored sable and white. Although she is fairly normal in height, she is very slight in build. She was one of the Brooklyn hoarder Shelties and, as such, was almost feral.
Picking her up was tricky, she was an incredible flight risk and shied away from any and all movement. We just took her, pretty much sight unseen, back to the house where her new canine family was waiting. We put the crate in the kitchen and everyone was very curious. Lily was balled up in the back of the crate. No interest in sniffing. Great. Completely wild and/or frightened to death. We removed everyone out of the kitchen and tried to get her out of the crate. She hung on for dear life, but I finally got her out. She tried to fight her way back into the crate. I at least was able to get a martingale collar on her. She slammed back into the crate.

Since we have Borzoi, we have sturdy six foot fences, but a frightened Sheltie could vault them in a heartbeat. What to do about exercising her? I reached back into the crate and attached a leash, prying her out of the crate again. Clearly, she wasn't leash trained (didn't expect her to be, but held out hope just the same) and was going to fight every inch of the way. She shied away from me, struggling against the lead violently. She couldn't be let out in the yard, we'd never be able to get her back and she'd probably go over the fence. So I did what my grandfather did with wild horses, just tie 'em up and let 'em think about it. I tied her lead to my waist and went about my business in the yard - weeding, picking up poop, raking, whatever. She flailed along behind me. I didn't try to untangle her or make accomodation, I just let her figure out that she was only fighting against herself.

About a month later, I almost cried. She nudged the back of my leg. We're getting somewhere at last! I only go over her rocky start to show what kind of patience is required. Lily is now safe to leave in the backyard, comes when called, takes food from us, plays with the other dogs and doesn't panic when we get up and move around the house. I make her sit in my lap and I fuss over her - she doesn't fight me anymore about it. She thoroughly enjoys her grooming sessions and will relax in the tub, enjoying a warm bath. She still has a faraway, sad look in her eyes, but when she is playing with the other dogs, there is a spark. Lily is capable of great joy and it will come out eventually.

* We do not permit adoptions of shelties as gifts. If you would like to give one as a gift you can contact us for advice on how to handle the situation.
Please note that we do NOT adopt to homes with children under the age of 10. Herding dogs, especially shelties, tend to chase whatever/whoever is running & they often will nip at the back of legs in their attempt to gather everyone into a neat, manageable area.
If you cannot adopt but would like to make a donation or to sponsor one of our forever fosters, seniors or special needs dogs, please email Aneita.